NotAnotherTimeTurnerFic Challenge
by queentricks
Summary: Hermione sends herself back in time to the founders era. Unfortunately her body gets lost in the process. She needs the help of the strongest wizards of the past to help fix the future. But its hard to convince people to help you when you are one of the most feared dark creatures out there. Dementor!Hermione Boy!Hermione HG/MA
1. Chapter 1

NotAnotherTimeTurnerFic Challenge

Pairing: HG/MA, Hermione (genderswap)/Merlin (BBC kind of)

Summary: Hermione sends herself back in time to the founders era. Unfortunately her body gets lost in the process. She needs the help of the strongest wizards of the past to help fix the future. But its hard to convince people to help you when you are one of the most feared dark creatures out there. Dementor!Hermione Boy!Hermione HG/MA

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, that goes to JK Rowling. Nor do I lay claim to Merlin. That's BBC's and (Wiki) Geoffrey of Monmouth. Thanks Schermionie for the challenge idea.

AN: First Fan fic people. I know I'm excited. :D Never really seen Merlin, so it's going to be very AU. Hope you enjoy. I really can't see it taking up more than ten pages… but I'm not counting so this will write itself as it goes. Some angst in the beginning. More humour later on.

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Prologue

Water dribbled down onto the rubble of black marble. It had been many years since the department of mystery's walls had been traversed by actual employed personnel. A lone figure in a form fitting black survival suit rushed through the hallway heedless of the ominous darkness surrounding her. The deep purple hood of a rugged unspeakables cloak was pushed back by the stale air revealing a determined heart shaped face. Crow's feet were beginning to make their mark at the corner of her warm brown eyes prematurely from stress, and a single streak of white curled in her bushy hair.

There had been eleven years after Voldemort was defeated by her best friend Harry Potter that Hermione and the rest of the wizarding world was able to relax and seemingly rebuild their lives. That was until Runus Malfay an embittered squib was voted into muggle office as the Prime Minister. He started the events that would hale the end of all life on planet earth, starting with the unveiling over world broadcast of the existence of the magical world.

At first there was only curiosity and disbelief. The magicals that were mostly purebloods at this time were panicking in their mansions as the muggles started to swarm any strangely dressed people, which by that point was an accepted sure sign of a magical.

The magical and non-magical coexisted for two months before the first magical children were found being experimented on. A young Marissa Goldstein was kidnapped on her walk home from the shops during summer. Her father Anthony Goldstein used a tracking spell to locate his eleven year old daughter only to find her dead and cut up on a laboratory table.

She wasn't the only one.

Wizarding public outcry was enormous. Three labs, twenty two children, most were magical orphans found stored in the lab like frogs.

Goldstein stormed muggle government offices after documents bearing Prime Minister Malfay's signature of consent on the project were discovered. He then began to curse the prime minister in front of a mass of witnesses until muggle body guards managed subdued him. In the past this event could have been obliviated away by aurors, but because the new peace legislature that outlawed the memory charm rumours of the event reached the press in a suspiciously short amount of time and news of the magical attack on the government spread worldwide.

New laws were immediately pushed for all magicals to register their status. Restrictions were placed on certain areas where they could go. Wands were banned as weapons. Non-magicals found the hidden lands and estates of the magical world with the help of satellite imagery, and the magicals were forced to give up the land and were given government approved homes in AMA's or "Accepted Magical Areas.' Many magical families rallied against this and blockaded themselves in their homes, turning their wards to full power, or utilizing fidelius charms.

Then started the attacks.

Five years followed where the magical race was decimated to nearly thirty percent of its original population. Magicals, proven or suspected were culled in the streets in modern day witch hunts. AI missiles guided from space, too far a distance for even the fidelius to fully cover up, bombed magical homes and consequently schools to none existence. Magical species like the dragons, merpeople, phoenixes and the centaurs were hunted to extinction. Taken apart for research or merely killed out of fear.

Five more years until the non magicals figured out wizards and witches could be used as an energy source.

Those magicals that had registered and hadn't been killed already by the populace of nearly six billion fearful none magicals were made to give their 'charge up taxes'. But because of the extinction of magical species, plants, and animals, Magical health care had taken a steep nose dive into none existence. Epidemics of dragon pox and other magical maladies wiped out another large clump of magicals. They didn't have enough magic left in their bodies to even hope of surviving the plagues that swept through the camps and swarmed through 'charge up tax' offices.

The ley lines had begun to sink back into the core of the earth.

Orphanages were created for purely magical children where they became power sources for major cities across the world. Minimum power requirements given by magicals to meet showed on a tally board in each of the charge up offices. It would keep track of the amount gained each day and reset at the end of the week. The drain on magicals became taller as more magicals passed away. The ley lines that before had naturally supplied wizards were running fewer and fewer from the drain into non magical cities.

Five years after that and the planet started to die on the surface.

With the diminishment of the earth's ley lines above ground, the strain on the planet started to bleed out into none magical species. Forests wilted and animals both large and small perished. The non magicals began to rely more heavily on synthetics for sustenance. World hunger was at an all-time high as crops failed to provide, and meat livestock had long since been abandoned as the animals kept becoming too diseased or just dropped dead from ley-drain.

The total magical populace now equalled under a hundred magicals. Of those all but five were untrained children or preteen age who had never seen the outside of the magical charger buildings.

Hermione Granger slowed to a creep and raised her hand, pushing a little more power into her lumos. She stood in a circular room. The magic was gone from it, sucked dry by needy ley-lines, and it stood unmoving. The ley line that ran through the deep underground building flickered and zapped greedily at her core, trying to tear magic from her. She quickly lowered the lumos to a sputter with a muted curse and moved forward. All the doors were long since gone and she simply stepped into the empty rooms beyond. In the far corner of the room a large piece of tile had seemingly dislodged itself from the wall to fall to the floor. She wrapped her cloak around her fingers, weary of sharp edges, and shifted the heavy piece aside revealing a crude hole in the wall. Then she quickly turned and entered feet first dragging the tile carefully back into place. Her breaths came in faint huffs as she wriggled back through the hole in the darkness. After about a minute of travel she could hear hushed voices of the last four magically trained witches and wizards left on the planet. They silenced momentarily and there was a shuffling as soft red firelight filled the tunnel from around her bunched up cloak and someone grabbed her ankles and pulled her in the rest of the way.

Hermione may have eeped like a little girl and flailed around a little. Her heart was pounding from excitement. Seconds passed then, "Oy, let go of my feet." She said, smiling tiredly. And then the one dropped her ankles dragged her up into a bone crushing hug.

"Merlin Mione' going through upper London, are you insane!?" Ron Weasley exclaimed in a high voice before his ears reddened and he said in a significantly lower voice and pulled out a small yellowed envelope that had a slight bulge. "I've got a letter to give any future boyfriends so they know not to mess around with you. They have to match the criterion that's listed here-ow! Blimey Mione, only joking! It's the time turner thing." He said, and opened the letter removing a delicate golden ring with what looked like a small amber half sphere sitting at the top. Tiny interlocking gears caged the gem onto the base of the ring. Hermione walked over to the torch by Luna and saw that the amber was in fact a hollowed diamond contained what she recognized as glittery and potent time sand.

"We finished the enchantments on it. Real nasty making that. Had to improvise with a modified fiend fire because, well, there are no dragons left for a classic wizard ring focus." Ron said.

"Ron Parseltongue and dragon speak are not the same thing. They're two different species. We wouldn't have been able to ask a dragon even if we had access to one." Harry sighed tiredly from a wooden chair, books on ancient focus and time rituals spread out around the table with him. He was using a rather large volume label 'When wands won't do' as a pillow.

"It's brilliant boys. Three weeks above paid off," Hermione said, tipping the ring in the light, and added, "I got the Dementor's Leaf." She reached her gloved hand into her breast pocket and pulled out a small glass containing a single black wispy leaf. Frost clung to the glass and the leaf pressed itself against the glass trying to get at her fingers. Instantly Neville jumped forward and inspected the vial, refraining from touching it with his bare hands.

"Amazing Hermione! I can't believe the muggles kept it alive so long." Neville said in an awed voice, his breath coming out in small puffs of fog. Then the leaf's influence became too much and he backed away, paling a little involuntarily.

"Yes the thing acted as a nice muggle repelling ward. They kept it at smooshed away at the back of a supply cupboard. Bloody difficult to locate the dang thing. Luckily the room it was in was in the basement of the facilty and I managed a point me spell. And I was almost found several times after in the underground but the muggles got all jittery when they got too close to my hiding spots and turned back around." Hermione explained with a tired grin. She covered the vial with her gloved fist and everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness for dementors being such nasty buggers still." Harry quipped.

Ron was about to make a comment when Luna suddenly spoke up. "The nargles have realized we took their frosty veil leaf and are coming to visit." Adrenaline spiked in the pit of Hermione's stomach and she jumped to the doorway along with the other three. They entered the veil room at a sprint. There was an explosion overhead and green gas curled up around Neville who was caught off guard and he dropped like a stone.

"Neville!" Harry and Ron Shouted almost stopping.

"Harry! It's Nargle's Breath! He's gone!" Luna said as she pulled Harry up the raised island away from the deadly green cloud.

Hermione and Ron had reached the veil and were starting to frantically push their magic into it to alter the course of the veil from death to a portal that could help span over one thousand years into the past. Harry and Luna joined either side just as another explosion rocked through the ceiling nearly having them fall into the veil. Red laser lines began darting through the green smog searching for bodies. Neville's body that was already down was pelted with bullets.

"I'm going through!" Hermione screamed, tearing off a glove with her teeth and slamming the ring on her finger. A shower of gold and amber sparks lit the cavern momentarily as the ring got a lock on her magical core. Unfortunately this brought the attention of the red lasers which swung over to the base of the veil.

"Hermione! I've got this side go!" Ron shouted, arms shaking from the strain of taking on one full half of the veil. Hermione tossed off the lid off the small jar, her bare fingers burning a little from frost bite, and the leaf floated eagerly up toward her mouth and started to loosen her soul.

Just then the red beams reached their legs and all four cried out in pain as bullets pummelled their legs. Hermione's last sight before the black wispy leaf flew down her screaming throat was her friends dropping to the floor and a red mist rising to splatter her face.

And then the veil swallowed her body.

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AN: Yeah I totally just made up the dementor's leaf plant. It will be important to the plot later on though. Don't worry. What do you think of my prologue? Kind of clichéd I know but I kind of like it. Reviews welcome.

That all. Peace out.


	2. Chapter 2

NotAnotherTimeTurnerFic Challenge

Pairing: HG/MA, Hermione (genderswap)/Merlin (BBC kind of)

Summary: Hermione sends herself back in time to the founders era. Unfortunately her body gets lost in the process. She needs the help of the strongest wizards of the past to help fix the future. But its hard to convince people to help you when you are one of the most feared dark creatures out there. Dementor!Hermione Boy!Hermione HG/MA

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, that goes to JK Rowling. Nor do I lay claim to Merlin. That's BBC's and (Wiki) Geoffrey of Monmouth. Thanks Schermionie for the challenge idea.

AN.

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No no no! Get back here! Hermione frantically clawed at her body. Her soul was now completely out of her fleshy shell and she was trying to literally hold herself together as she was swept along through the portal. Traveling through the veil with her soul still in her body would have killed her, so the ritual book explained that she needed to use dementors leaf to extract her soul from her body before hand. It was a terribly foolhardy and gryffindorish thing to do but they had run out of options if they wanted to save the world.

Hermione breathed a frazzled sigh of relief as the light in the distance came into view. Or she would have if she still had access to her lungs. Unfortunately that little lapse in concentration was enough for her to lose hold on her solid body. She gaped in horror for a moment before she scrabbled forward. The light at the end of the tunnel was approaching fast and she almost managed a victory cry as her incorporeal appendages brushed across her body's fingers before she was flung out through the opening in an explosion of sound and golden light.

Pain surrounded her body and seemed to focus on her stomach. Hermione gargled a little as she looked down to see what appeared to be a crude wooden pike sticking out from her. She watched in morbid fascination as golden veins traveled up through the shaft and it exploded into ash. Then the pain slowly retreated, along with a cloying coldness that was slowing being prickled away from her limbs inward. She noted that a piece of coldness remained in her chest cavity. She waited a few moments to see if it would go away but it remained there. Eventually she huffed and slowly raised herself up into a sitting position.

What bloody moron speared me?! She thought, eyeing the pile of ash in her lap with disdain. She could hear the rustling of leaves and the faint far away call of wolves. That in itself set her somewhat at ease, since the wolves had become extinct early on in the dampening of the ley lines. They were the closest related magical creatures without actually having any magic, what with their link to werewolves.

Searching through the darkness she couldn't seem to perceive any threats. "Well not like I can really see anything at all anyways." She said. It's so dark out. Then she cocked her head to the side. My voice sounds deeper that it did before. She hummed a couple bars, coughed experimentally and brought a hand up to her throat. She rubbed it and encountered a bump. Is that a tumour? She thought, panicking a little. Since the decline the ley lines some magicals had become susceptible to muggle diseases and it would really be ironic to die from a muggle disease stuck in the past before she could help the wizards in the future. She raised her other hand to her throat and felt the comforting cold band of the time turner ring pass over the bump on her throat as she swallowed convulsively. She scrambled to her feet and stumbled over something behind her, falling flat on her bum.

It was then the full moon made its show from behind the clouds and she grimaced at the horribly decapitated body at her feet. It appeared to be a peasant dressed in a simple brown tunic and trousers. Simple leather booted feet rested by a grisly bloody head, expression still frozen in terror. She also noticed that an empty scabbard had somehow attached itself at her hip. She frowned down at it. Her clothing had changed as well. Part of the ritual? She thought surveying the black ensemble. Her cloak appeared to have become less rugged and turned darker as well. She squinted around for the sword and saw it lying over where she had been laying when she woke up.

Have I been wandering around for a couple minutes already and lost my memory? She wondered. I can't seem to understand how it is I woke up with a pike already sticking out of me. Or how that mans body became so torn apart. Feeling a little foreboding chill down her spine she bent down and picked up the sword, scourgifying the blood off. After seeing children being stoned by their parents and neighbours she had lost most of her feeling of horror at blood and death. But it was still uncomfortable waking up with her head practically in a dead man's lap.

The wolf's howling was closer now and she heard a shriek of a woman off in the foliage that sent goose bumps down her arms. Hermione shot off wearily into the dark, picking up pace a little as the screaming of the woman were joined by a baby crying and came out in a small yard with a vegetable patch and a wooden cottage.

She nearly backed right out of the yard when the pack of wolves she was expecting turned out to be a full blown werewolf. "Bloody hell!" She swore. This guided the werewolf's attention away from the young woman lying curled up on the ground. The werewolf came at Hermione slowly, its beady amber eyes assessing her as the greater threat and it charged. Without another thought Hermione transformed into her animagus form, something she hadn't done in years. She was a little disconcerted however when instead of brown mountain lion she lengthened upwards and black smoke seemed to drift down her arms in sheets and her feet left the ground. The werewolf yipped and jumped away while Hermione clumsily held her position in the air. A chilled breath left her mouth in a cloud and the vegetable patch seemed to frost over in response. The woman whimpered and curled up tighter in a ball which brought Hermione out of her temporary stupor. The were wolf seemed to have completely forgotten the young lady lying in the fetal position and was alternately whining and backing away from Hermione before it finally dashed off into the underbrush. The werewolf could be heard crashing off into the distance.

Well that was somewhat disconcerting. Hermione thought as she focused on untransforming herself. Her feet settled back on the ground with a wobble. Then she heard baby's cries again and jogged up to the young mother. Frozen leaves crackling under her feet.

"Miss, are you alright?" She asked, frowning a little at her deep voice again, but quickly shaking it off in the circumstances. The woman screamed a little as Hermione touched her shoulder, and Hermione tugged back her hand. The woman continued sobbing hysterically on the grass, the baby crying in the background. Hermione looked off into the woods then back at the woman. "O for crying out loud. Is that your house?" Hermione enunciated. The woman cried hysterically. Hermione sighed worriedly.

She couldn't see any blood, well except for what on her own tunic from the pike sticking her through. She quickly scourgified it then glanced down at the woman again. She quickly scooped her up and jogged over to the cottage. The door seemed to have been locked so she used what she hoped would be a discreet allohamora on the door. There was a tumble of something heavy hitting the floor on the other side and Hermione winced as she shoved the door open. Instantly a pitch fork was raised to her face and she had to swerve her and the woman out of the way.

"Oy! Get that out of my face!" She commanded. There was a straw mattress lying on the floor and she laid the woman down on it. Then she turned around to a young boy of six or seven holding a three pronged pitchfork at her threateningly. She raised her hands and walked back to the door and remade the barricade, frowned, then added a heavy cupboard as well.

"Get out of m-my home!" The boy stuttered wide eyed, putting himself between the woman, probably his mother and Hermione.

Hermione frowned at him and stated "No." The boy took a step forward and raised the pitch fork. Hermione raised her hands again and said sternly, "There is a werewolf out there, this door will not open again until morning light."

She noticed a single tiny window in the far wall that opened up into the night. She walked forward ignoring the boy with the pitch fork who sputtered and she pushed over a cupboard with vegetables and pots on it. The baby was still crying.

"Your mother is in shock. You comfort the baby and I'll see to your mother." Hermione ordered. The boy had a moment of indecision and then put the pitch fork down and picked up the baby, holding it close to his chest. Hermione then noticed the blood that was seeping out from the woman's hands and she swore. It was a clear bite mark on her wrist. She glanced over at the boy considering and then asked, "Is your mother a witch?"

The boy paled even more and backed away a couple steps. "W-what, why would you, no she isn't."

Hermione's frown deepened and she sighed. "She's been bit by a werewolf. If she's not a witch she won't survive the night." The boy gasped, his eyes brightening.

"C-can't you-" He took a wobbly breath, "can't you just wrap the wound up?"

"No, it's not the blood loss that will take her. Werewolves carry the lycanthropy disease. You can only survive to become a werewolf if your body has access to magic to keep you alive while the curse attacks your body. She's doesn't have any magic then the disease will take over her body." The boy was crying now and started to run forward with the toddler but Hermione grabbed him and held him close. She watched as the woman's eyes opened and showed glowing amber. The colour was almost glowing as the cursed disease ate away at her body unimpeded.

The boy struggled but Hermione held firm and hid the boy behind him as she backed up to the far side of the room. Her hands pushed the boys face into her cloak but he could still hear the animalistic whines and growls coming from his dying mother. Hermione's heart leaped into her throat and she unsheathed her sword as the woman's convulsions led her fall off the cot onto the floor. The boy pushed his face further into the back of her cloak. The woman looked up at them with empty glowing eyes and clawed her way toward them, teeth bared. Her finger nails had lengthened somewhat along with her teeth which were misshapen points in her mouth. She made it too about five feet away from them before her bones all snapped simultaneously and quickly reformed and she collapsed. A last wheezy sigh escaping from blood soaked lips and then she lay still.

Hermione stood for a moment and then turned and picked the boy up, setting him on top the cupboard. Then she partially transformed her arms into her strange new animagus form. She pushed the cupboard blocking the window aside then picked the woman's body up and quickly dumped it out the window. The boy whimpered and she pushed the cupboard back into place, vanishing any blood left over the mattress and floor as she went. Then she walked over and picked the boy up and lay down with him and the toddler, which she realized was also a little boy. The boys cried themselves to sleep eventually and Hermione lay stiffly alert through the rest of the night, eyes on the door and one hand on the hilt of her sword.

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AN:


	3. Chapter 3

NotAnotherTimeTurnerFic Challenge

Pairing: HG/MA, Hermione (genderswap)/Merlin (BBC kind of)

Summary: Hermione sends herself back in time to the founders era. Unfortunately her body gets lost in the process. She needs the help of the strongest wizards of the past to help fix the future. But its hard to convince people to help you when you are one of the most feared dark creatures out there. Dementor!Hermione Boy!Hermione HG/MA

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, that goes to JK Rowling. Nor do I lay claim to Merlin. That's BBC's and (Wiki) Geoffrey of Monmouth. Thanks Schermionie for the challenge idea.

AN. Its starts getting less scary now :D Also Hermione and Ron never got married. They dated for a little while but then broke it off and stayed as friends. Merlin comes in in this one. J

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Hermione was jolted awake when there was a bang on the door. She was disoriented for a moment until she remembered the events of last night.

Hopefully it's not still night time and that isn't a werewolf trying to get in and eat us, she thought. Hermione took a deep breath and extricated herself from the clinging boys. Then she drew her sword and cautiously approached the blocked doorway, kicking various tossed vegetables out of the way that littered the floor. The boys were awake now and the older boy grabbed up his pitch fork and placed himself behind Hermione.

The banging had paused and Hermione was just about to take a step forward when there was a flash of golden light, the cupboard was shoved aside and the door opened. The boys cried out and Hermione raised a quick invisible protego shield.

"William?!" A voice cried out. Hermione blinked. Ahead of her was an old man who was looked suspiciously similar to her old headmaster Dumbledore. He wore a robe that was significantly less flamboyant however, being a dark red colour. His eyes were blue, but instead of the pale blue of Dumbledore's they were a dark ocean colour. Had the long white beard down perfectly.

Hermione's observations of the unknown wizard were cut off as she was pushed to the side, and the excited boy's voice rose up in a shout, "Mer-Er, Dragoon!" Her foot landed awkwardly on a potato and she just managed to catch herself on a shelf.

"William then," Hermione began, "you know this man?" Hermione had sheathed her sword. If he was a wizard it wouldn't do much good anyways if it came to a fight. She leaned against the shelf she had used to steady herself on and attempted to look casual.

"Yes, he's the great Sorcerer Dragoon. He visited us before about a school or something."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, wondering if Hogwarts was built yet. Then shrugged at the thought and asked "Are you talking about Hogwarts?" The old man straightened up at that announcement, his deep blue eyes sharp.

He spoke, "Yes, but how have you heard of it? I can't recall meeting you before."

"I wouldn't think so. I just arrived in the area last night and came upon this cabin when it was being attacked by a werewolf. I wasn't bitten, but the young woman wasn't so lucky." Hermione said. That would be really weird if you had met me seeing as I'm from over a thousand years into the future.

William's hand reached up and snatched at Dragoon's cloak, furiously rubbing his eyes dry with his fore arm.

"Did you kill her?" Dragoon suddenly asked. It might have been a trick on the morning light but Hermione thought his eyes flashed gold for a second there.

"No, she had no magic in her to stave off the disease, and she perished." Hermione stated in a firm voice. She didn't know how skilled this Dragoon was; though she had survived the war in the future she was weary to test her skills against an unknown entity.

Dragoon glanced down at William and the boy nodded once firmly and the old man relaxed somewhat. Then he looked around the dark musty room until he landed on the younger of the two boys and motioned him forward. "Come on Bael let's get you out into the sunshine. William look around for any food that you can put in a sack. We'll go to the school." William nodded and leaped forward, gathering supplies. Hermione left the musty cabin and stepped out into the misty morning.

The sun filtered through the trees in broad god rays that turned the clearing that last night had been so ominous into a more serene landscape. She kept the wizard Dragoon in the corner of her eye as she made her way to the side of the cabin where the boy's mother had been thrown out last night. The body lay still and covered in a fine layer of dew, her simple brown dress still splattered with blood. Hermione rubbed her face tiredly and held off a jump as dragoon spoke up from nearly right behind her. "There was another body in the forest. I couldn't help but notice that it looked like his head had been cut off by a blade, and not a werewolf's jaws."

There was a faint thum of power in his voice and Hermione couldn't help taking a quick swallow. She still didn't know how she had woken up in the woods with a pike sticking out of her. This man was obviously protective of the boys. She really did not want to make an enemy of the apparent friend of the founders she needed to have an audience of.

Hermione decided quickly on what would be as close to the truth as she could make it. Looking the man in the eye she stated, "I woke up in the clearing that man was in. The blood was on my blade but I don't remember any attack or how I got there." A little lie, she remembered the portal from the veil. She didn't remember getting skewered onto the ground though. "I left shortly after that when I heard wolf howls and a woman screaming, along with a baby's crying. I ran toward the sound and thought it was a pack of wolves after her. I was somewhat surprised at the werewolf but managed to run it off and take the woman inside where her boy almost skewered me with a pitch fork. She had already been bitten though and the disease, as I said earlier, took her life. I blockaded the doors and the window in case the werewolf came back, and woke up this morning to you blowing in the door." She ended in a tightly chipper tone. She didn't say anything about using magic. She didn't know the man well enough yet to gage what his response to that might be.

"EW!" Hermione and the man broke off from there staring contest to look over at the toddler whose hand was stuck in a squash in the vegetable patch. He pulled away and giggled as his hands were completely covered in green goop.

Hermione went over without thinking, reminded of some of the children she had taken care of in the beginning of the war and said, "That is disgustingly cute little man. Let's get that cleaned off." She wiped off his hands in the dewy grass and dried them on her cloak then said, "Don't go sticking your hands back in there. Why don't you go help your brother." She ruffled his thick mop of brown hair and pointed over at William who was exiting the house, arms hugging a brown sack to his chest.

"Looks like a frost set in overnight." Dragoon stated, looking down at the vegetable patch. Hermione grimaced a little and wandered away, remembering her weird animagus episode from last night.

"I'll bury the mother over in the woods." She stooped down and cradled the woman in her arms. It wasn't until she was beyond the tree line that she remembered she didn't have a shovel. Setting the woman on the ground she glanced to see if she was alone and used a quick whispered wingardium leviosa to raise a deep well of dirt off to the side and then whispered another mobilicorpus to lower the woman into the grave. She covered the dirt back over and gathered a pile of stones.

Hermione stood back to survey her work, frowned and quickly transfigured a bundle of purple wildflowers out of a stick just as a patting of feet came up behind her. She turned and saw William, Bael, and Dragoon making their way toward her. She handed the flowers to William, trading it for the sack which she slung over her shoulder.

William and his brother set the flowers at the grave, saying a quick farewell. Hermione sighed. It had been a very long time since she had seen a grave made for the dead. Her friend's faces splattered with blood from the gunfire flashed across her mind. She realized that her vision had become a blurry and quickly wiped her eyes and nodded at Dragoon, pushing thoughts of her friends away. There would be time for mourning later. And if she finished her quest she might not even have to mourn.

-_Earlier that day from Merlin's perspective_-

Merlin hummed as he picked his way through the dense undergrowth.

It had been three years since Arthur had taken the throne and magic was declared legal in the kingdom.

It had been a several months since four warlocks, a Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff had approached him about a school for witchcraft and wizardry.

He was astounded to learn that they had built the castle beside the Lake of Avalon. It made sense though, since the lake was a hotspot for magic and only those with the gift could travel close to it. The Lady of the Lake had given her permission and had also bestowed some of herself into the actual castle giving a consciousness to the stone walls. Since then he and the founders had been searching for teachers and students for the school. Families moved closer to castle and began making homes and other buildings further down the hill.

At the moment Rowena, Sal, Grodric, and Helena were busy helping set up the school and the town. So it was left to Merlin mostly to contact the families whose names showed up from a quill Rowena had enchanted to write down those with magical potential. Unfortunately he didn't look nearly as impressive as the four other magicals because of his age. So as he neared the next location of the two magicals he used an aging spell and dawned the guise of Dragoon the Great.

He had just stepped out into a small clearing when he spotted a man in brown clothes lying on the ground. His head was lying at his feet and blood surrounded his neck. Battle wariness sharpened his vision. He recognized the clean cut of a blade. He also noted another large blood stain just ahead of the body, along with a strange pile of ash. A vampire? Merlin wondered. But the ash was the grey of wood ash, not the strange red ash vampires left behind. Then he remembered the reason he had come here and dread pooled in his stomach.

Although magic had been allowed throughout the kingdom, there were still a great many that were fearful of those with power. It was safer now than it had been in years for magic users, but it was still not without dangers of attack from fearful non magicals. If someone had spotted the two names on his list as magic users that could very well have been the cause of this violence.

He rushed through the woods, glancing at the enchanted parchment occasionally to make sure he was headed the right way and came out in a yard with a garden and small cottage. His heart jumped into his throat as he spied some bloodied form crumpled up against the side of the house.

He approached her slowly; keeping his ears and eyes peeled and froze when he recognized the woman as a young mother who traded vegetables at the near towns and villages. He couldn't remember her name. But he remembered her son, William, who had been lighting a small campfire behind a building with his giggling little brother.

_Flashback_

The crowd was thick in the large village Merlin was passing through. He was getting jostled a lot, losing his balance, when a burly man shouted just in front of him with his back turned, backing into Merlin, and knocked the young warlock into a stall. A wizened old crone shouted and prodded him away from her herbs. He kept a tight hold on his pack and was nearly flung into a side alley by the heaving crowd, barely managing to stay on his feet.

He breathed a sigh of relief and straightened the dull brown traveling cloak so it covered the gold dragon crest on his tunic, pushing his short dark brown hair out of his eyes. Merline started to walk down the alleyway only to pause when he saw two boys crouched on the ground. Amusement and surprise flickered across his face as the oldest held his hand over a small pile of sticks. He was repeatedly lighting and snuffing out the flames with waves of his hands as his younger brother watched. Just then a group of four men entered the alley and the boys fell back from the small fire, a hint of fear on their faces.

The man in the front had spotted the fire and came forward, his face darkening in comprehension. Merlin moved forward quickly. The law against magic had been lifted over two years before but some people still attacked magic users.

"What were you boys doing with that fire?" He asked menacingly.

"I was teaching them how to make a fire." Merlin stated, holding up his flint and steel. He never really used them anymore, but kept it for situations like this one. The man and the boys looked over at him. The older of the two brothers started nodding frantically, and the younger one bobbed his head along obediently. The man eyed the flint and steel suspiciously. Merlin raised his chin and casually moved his cloak aside revealing his gold crest. By this time the man's friends had arrived and were pulling at the other man's arms.

One of them said quickly, "Sorry Milord, he didn't mean anything by it. Just too much to drink."

Sorry milord's Rang out all around and the group hurriedly shuffled off. Amusement licked at Merlin's insides. If Arthur had heard someone calling Merlin a lord he probably would have bust himself laughing. (Merlin has always been an Arthur's servant). He kept his face straight easily though, only the faint twinkling in his eyes giving him away.

"Thank you my lord." The older boy said.

Merlin smirked. "I am not a lord. I am a servant. But we will not tell them that." The boys grinned. Merlin replaced his cloak over the crest of his tunic and said, "I am also a warlock just like you. The law against magic was lifted two years ago but I would caution you against using it in such an open space. You just saw that not everyone is as accepting of magic as King Arthur. There is however a school starting up in a couple of months that teaches magic. You might be interested in it. My name is Merlin Ambrosias." He held both hands for the boys and pulled them to their feet. Then he stared at the fire and said a few words in the dragon tongue. His eyes glowed gold momentarily and a small dragon made of embers flew above the fire before dissipating. The boys grinned up at him, bouncing in excitement.

"I'm William and this is my little brother Bael." The boys both had darker skin like Gwen. They spent another hour talking before Merlin dawned his old man guise and headed on his way.

_Flashback end_

Merlin quickly made his way over to the wooden door and tried to open it. it wouldn't move so he knocked loudly and called out. When that also had no answer he stepped back and spoke in the dragon tongue. Gold light ran from his feet across the ground and under the door. There was a scraping of something heavy being moved and then the door opened.

Merlin jumped inside, prepared for the worst and saw a tall hooded figure with the hood shadowing his face. He seemed to suck in the darkness around him, and in his dark gloved hands held a sword pointed at Merlin.

Behind the menacing figure stood one small boy holding a pitch fork. "William!" Merlin exclaimed with some relief. William rushed past the swordsman and grabbed Merlin around the waist in a hug.

"Mer-er, Dragoon!" William caught his slip.

The man spoke then in a deep voice, "William then? You know this man?" He sheathed his sword, and leaned against the shelf, arms loosely crossed over his broad chest.

William glanced quickly up at him, a question in his eyes and stated with exaggerated excitement, "Yes, he's the great Sorcerer Dragoon. He visited us before about a school or something."

A barely seen eyebrow in the hood was raised, and the man lifted off from the shelves then surprised Merlin briefly when he asked, "Are you talking about Hogwarts?"

Merlin's mind flickered over the strange inflection the man placed on that sentence, and he straightened to meet where the man's eyes would have been. "Yes, but how have you heard of it? I can't recall meeting you before." Yeah, he probably would have remembered meeting this man before, what with the way the shadows seemed to cling to him like smoke.

There was a quick flash a cold and a hopeless feeling crawled its way into his heart. Williams hand latched onto his cloak and Merlin gathered his magic around him. "Did you kill her?" He demanded a nearly a whisper.

"No, she had no magic in her to stave off the disease, and she perished." The as yet unnamed man stated firmly. The cold had seeped away by now and the feeling off hopelessness trying to claw its way into him went with it. Merlin glanced quickly down at William to see if he agreed with the story and got a quick nod in response. He relaxed slightly, then remembered the younger brother and looked for him around the cabin. He spotted the youngest on a straw mattress watching the proceedings and motioned him forward.

They exited into the yard and Merlin couldn't help but notice that even in broad daylight the man seamed a shadow. A shiver went up his neck when he felt the man watching even though his face was turned away.

He kept a hold of the two boys as the man walked around the side of the building to where the woman was crumpled against the wall. Merlin said, "Come on Bael let's get you out into the sunshine. William look around for any food that you can put in a sack. We'll go to the school." William nodded up at him and quickly re-entered the house.

Merlin left the boys near the vegetable patch to approach the body and the man. He noticed then that it did indeed look like something had bitten the woman.

"There was another body in the forest. I couldn't help but notice that it looked like his head had been cut off by a blade, and not a werewolf's jaws." Merlin said, as he watched the man's back for his reaction.

"I woke up in the clearing that man was in. The blood was on my blade but I don't remember any attack or how I got there." Merlin's face remained impassive. He didn't appear to be lying precisely, but he was definitely holding something back. Growing up at court Merlin had learned how to pick up subtle speech nuances, and he braced his magic. "I left shortly after that when I heard wolf howls and a woman screaming, along with a baby's crying. I ran toward the noise and thought it was a pack of wolves after her. I was somewhat surprised at the werewolf but managed to run it off and take the woman inside where her boy almost skewered me with a pitch fork. She had already been bitten though and the disease, as I said earlier, took her life. I blockaded the doors and the window in case the werewolf came back, and woke up to you blowing in the door." The shadowing man ended in a sarcastically chipper tone.

"EW!" Bael's voice cried out in childish ecstasy. His hands were covered in mucked squash.

Merlin's heart froze a beat as the shadow blew past him and glided over to the small boy. He was just about to call out when he heard the man say in the softest tone he had heard from him yet, "That is disgustingly cute little man. Let's get that cleaned off. Don't go sticking your hands back in there. Why don't you go help your brother?" He then ruffled the toddler's hair and sent him on his way, leaving Merlin alone with him for a little bit.

Merlin looked over the ruined squash and noted that all of the vegetables appeared to be mucked and dead as well. "Looks like a frost set in overnight." He murmured to himself.

"I'll bury the mother over in the woods." The man spoke in a sudden non sequitur. He went back to the woman and scooped her body into his arms like it was a feather pillow, and then disappeared off into the woods. Merlin waited for a moment before making his way into the cabin. William stood outside the door holding a brown sack, and Bael stood by his side chewing on a carrot. Upon entering he noticed something that he had missed before.

There was no blood.

"William. Did that man ever bring your mother inside?" He queried.

"Yes." William said in a hushed tone.

Merlin frowned and looked over at the inside of the wall where the woman had been leaning up against the outside of the house. There was a cupboard there against the wall, but the items on it were shuffled across the top, a bowl containing berries overturned. Merlin stepped forward and tried to move the shelf, but it was too heavy and wouldn't budge. He stepped back and said a few dragon words. His eyes glowed golden and the cupboard moved aside. Walking up to the window, Merlin leaned over the sill. There was an almost perfect line where the blood started from a body being pushed over the sill to slide down the wall to the ground outside, and the rest of the window sill was left clean.

"He put her on the bed. But he said that she had been bit and since Mother didn't have any magic in her that the werewolves bite would kill her. Then he pulled me behind him, I was holding Bael, and there were growls coming from where Mother was. I think she fell off the bed because I could hear her shuffling getting closer. The man had his sword out the whole time and was pointing it at her. Then there was-" His voice caught in his throat but continued on "There w-was this loud snapping noise, and then nothing. The man picked me and Beal up and put us on a shelf and put Mother out the window." He were tears streaming down his face. "Mother told us before to keep the door closed no matter what. I moved a box in front of it. But the box moved back on its own. I picked up the pitch fork and was prepared to ram it into whatever came through the door, but he was holding Mother. And he moved the pots cupboard in front of the door and said no one would go out until it was m-morning. I thought he was going to- I thought he hurt Mother. He said he didn't and I heard the howling and the whimpers from outside before he came in. I was going to escape out the window with Bael but the man put the cupboard in front of it. Then he grabbed m-me and Bael and lay down with us on the mattress. I tried to stay a-awake but I c-couldn't." William by this time was squeezing the life out of the bag, and he and his little brother were sobbing.

Merlin knelt down and placed a hand on both their shoulders, drawing them in. His brow furrowed, Merlin said, "You did really well for the circumstance. And you're both still alive. Alright? You're a smart kid William. You handled the situation really well for you and your little brother. Plus, I don't know if this man is bad or not. I think he might be a warlock, though I haven't seen him doing magic. His story fits so far and it seems like he was trying to help your Mother. But we'll stay cautious. We will go to Hogwarts where some of my friends are."

They made their way through the woods to where the man had disappeared off to. They saw him standing over a mound of fresh dirt that had a small pile of stones at the head. The man stood holding a small bouquet of purple flowers which Merlin had no idea where he had gotten. He didn't recognize the species and after being apprenticed under Gaius, who is a physician, he knew the properties of nearly every species in the isles.

The man turned then and handed the flowers to William, trading it for the sack which he slung over his shoulder. The boys paid their respects, and then Merlin turned to them all and announced, "Well I think we should be heading off to Hogwarts. Are you coming with us?" Merlin raised an eyebrow at the man.

"Yes I would like that very much, thank you." The man answered.

"Great, well we should probably know your name then sir." He stated.

"Her-Er. Sir? What?" The man reached up and tugged his hood back. He had a square jaw and curly, light-eating black hair. But the feature that stood out the most was the man's eyes. They were a piercing pale violet. Nearly white, making the pinprick pupils stand out all the more under his raised aristocratic eye brows. A thin scar ran down the left side of his face.

"I'm a woman."

Merlin blinked. He stared, an eye brow rising. He really didn't know what to say to that. The man didn't appear to be joking either.

"Er, no you're not." William spoke up, helpful as he was.

"What?" The man's voice trailed off. Merlin watched as the man brought his hands up to his face and tugged on a piece of shoulder length hair. He stopped and stared at it in utter confusion for a little bit, then turned and startled everyone when he waved his hand and muttered a few words and an ornate mirror appeared out of nowhere in the middle off the forest. He looked into it and then just gawped at his reflection.

"I look," He stuttered, "I look so," He looked back at them in panic momentarily before turning back to the mirror. "I look so _EVIL_." He stated in a high pitched voice.

Then he fainted.

HGMAHGMAHGMAHGMAHGMAHGMA

AN: Lawlz. Hermione finally notices she's a man. This was a much longer chapter than the other two. Next chapter is traveling adventures. After that they'll be meeting the founders. Yay.

See you laterz.

Peace out


	4. Chapter 4

NotAnotherTimeTurnerFic Challenge

Pairing: HG/MA, Hermione (genderswap)/Merlin (BBC kind of)

Summary: Hermione sends herself back in time to the founders era. Unfortunately her body gets lost in the process. She needs the help of the strongest wizards of the past to help fix the future. But it's hard to convince people to help you when you are one of the most feared dark creatures out there. Dementor!Hermione Boy!Hermione HG/MA

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, that goes to JK Rowling. Nor do I lay claim to Merlin. That's BBC's and (Wiki) Geoffrey of Monmouth. Thanks Schermionie for the challenge idea.

AN.

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Hermione was floating.

She watched confusedly as the sunlit leaves of coniferous trees passed overhead. There were bird calls and the hushed voices of children nearby. She rubbed her eyes with her finger tips, tried to turn over to see what she was lying on, and promptly fell to the ground.

"Good morning Sir Woman." A cheerful voice called out. There were some giggles.

She opened her mouth to retort but snapped it shut when she couldn't see the old man from before. There was however another young man who had joined them. He wore a red tunic with a gold dragon embroidered on the front, a brown travel cloak pulled over his shoulders. She looked at his face and saw short brown hair, sharp cheek bones, and mischievous ocean blue eyes. The same eyes that Dragoon had.

Then she remembered everything from before.

"Merlin!" She swore.

He raised his eyebrows and said, now grinning, "You know my name?"

Hermione sat for a couple seconds in silence until his words caught up with her foggy brain and she squinted at him. Stones of apprehension dropped in the pit of her stomach. She looked down at the dragon crest on his chest, and also noticed a ring on his right hand. She squinted at it and thought she could see a crest of two open wings. "Oh Merlin-" She plopped her face into the leaf strewn ground, "Er- I mean bloody hell." She laid there for a couple moments, severely embarrassed.

She didn't see this coming. But why wouldn't she? Of course King Arthur's court would have been around the same time Hogwarts was first built. Wasn't it mentioned in Hogwarts a History that they had only been able to build the school because magic had recently become legal in the kingdom? What other monumental events had passed under the radar in their planning sessions?!

There was a crunching of leaves and then someone poked her on the shoulder.

"Hello? You can't go back to sleep yet, we're almost at the town." Merlin said.

Hermione groaned and got up onto her feet, blinking away the spots in her vision. She glanced at Bloody Merlin Ambrosias and then shook her head, muttering something about inheriting Harry's trouble making tendencies.

Just move along Hermione, she thought. "So you're Merlin-" She pointed at the blue eyed man, "You're William, and you're Bael. My name is Hermione Jean Granger and I'm a witch." She said, and then sighed. "… Or wizard since apparently I'm a man now. I honestly have no idea how that happened."

William glanced from Hermione to Merlin, a confused expression on his face. You could tell that he clearly thought Hermione was a little insane.

Merlin however had a somewhat thoughtful expression on his face. "I'm sure it's possible. Somehow." He fell into step beside her. "You don't remember anyone cursing you? Maybe slipping a potion into your food?"

Hermione halted feeling up her face and soft pitch dark hair saying, "No. Actually- wait. This is part of the reason why I'm here. You see, I came from a thousand years into the future using an artefact called the Veil of Death. My friends and I changed it so it could amplify my time turner and send me back instead of just killing me." She held up her ring. The flecks of amber sand twinkled within the intricate gold gear work.

"Really? You're from the future? What's it like? You're a warlock so magic users obviously exist…" He trailed off at her expression.

Despair and sadness flickered across her eyes before she pushed it back. Hermione took a deep breath. Silence stretched between them for a short time, their pace slowing to a stop before Merlin asked in a near whisper. "What happened?"

Hermione looked at him. "You believe me?" She asked in a quiet voice. William and Bael were silent and staring wide eyed at the exchange. Hermione glanced at them and then started walking again. She sent a silent message to Merlin telling him it was not a story for children then thought quickly back to the portal.

"I think when I went through the veil I lost my body." She said.

"How did that happen?" Merlin asked.

"I remember the Dementor's leaf we used in the ritual was supposed to separate my soul from my body so I wouldn't be killed when I passed through the portal. I was holding onto my body but right before I met the light at the end I lost my hold. And then I woke up in the dark with a pike sticking out of me!" She exclaimed, holding a hand to her healed stomach. She hadn't looked for any wound and had figured that the ritual had healed her.

The small group reached the top of the hill and the edge of the tree line that looked over a small village with goats and horses corralled off to one side. A grain field separated them from stone and wood buildings and a calm river ran along the bottom of the town, cutting it in half.

"What's a dementor?" Merlin asked.

"Dementors are some of the vilest dark non-beings out there. They suck all the happiness and warmth out of a person. They can even suck out a person's soul. It's called the dementor's kiss and had been used by the ministry for criminals and such as a death sentence. But most people agree that it's a state of being worse than death because your body still lives, you're just a shell of the person you once were. My friend Harry had really bad reactions to them. He learnt the Protonous charm in his third year which protects the caster by allowing the dementor to feed off it instead of the human being. If it's strong enough you can cast a corporeal protonous which can drive off and even wound dementors. You can tell a dementor is nearby because everything frosts over and you feel despair take over you." She recited, remembering the train ride when Professor Lupin had saved them from the Dementor trying to suck out her friend's soul.

"So… Like what you're doing right now?" Merlin asked.

"What?" Hermione turned around because Merlin had stopped and was frowning at frozen stalks of grass around them. His hands were resting on the boy's shoulders and there was a slight shiver ghosting over their frames. Hermione's glanced down at her feet and pried a booted foot out of the frozen mud.

"Yeah, just like that." She squeaked. "Merlin's beard, that's what my animagus had turned into." She looked up a Merlin who was staring at her with one eye eyebrow raised. "Oh, er." She blushed and smiled somewhat abashed. "Sorry, your name is kind of an exclamation of surprise in the future."

"Or a swear word." Merlin stated. Though he looked extremely amused by this fact.

Hermione grimaced, extremely uncomfortable with explaining to someone that their name had become an expletive in the future. "Moving along…" She forced through her grimace and turned back to the town. She rubbed her chest absent mindedly as she slowed her steps to match the boys.

"Yes, well. I did actually notice your darkish creature nature a few times back at the cabin. Though it wasn't as obvious as your last demonstration. I don't think you even noticed it much William?" He glanced down at the boy who shook his head in the negative. "Yes. So most of the time your- " He motioned vaguely all over Hermione, "-despair making coldness shouldn't affect the general populace."

Hermione's brow furrowed in question and asked tentatively, "You're sensitive to it?"

"Yes, I am able to detect various beings around me. Though they usually have to be pretty powerful or really close." They had arrived at a largish stone building and Merlin pushed open the door.

The smell of cooked meat, cheap alcohol, and body odour jumped at Hermione's senses like a sledge hammer. The interior reminded her somewhat of the leaky cauldron. If there had been more people in brown tunics or chainmail; and large bosomed barmaids; and horrid singing.

Hermione leaned away from a drunken big breasted woman who was grinning yellow teethed and drunk up at her. Hermione looked over for help and saw Merlin nearly bent over laughing. She glared at him.

"Please tell me were not staying here!" She hissed as she dipped away from a hand looking to caress her chest.

"Well yes, actually. Unless you have a cottage hidden on your person?" He asked sarcastically.

She ducked another grab at her person nabbed Merlin's sleeve. "It just so happens that I do. Let's get out of here." She would use the tent she carried in a moleskin pouch around her neck. Harry had made them all get one of the little bags right after school ended, as it was more easily hidden than a beaded purse.

They got just inside the tree line. Bael and William were both looking extremely tired by this time and were sitting leaning up against each other on the ground. Merlin watched interested as she started casting wards around where their camp site would be. Then she took out the tent and set it up with a wave of her time turner foci ringed hand and made a motion for them to step inside. "Don't bother ducking, or I might have to make fun of you." She said.

William and Bael were looking at the tent in consternation, displeasure at sleeping outside without a fire in the cold clear on their faces. Merlin hopped over to the tent and stuck his head inside then laughed and stepped fully into it. William and Bael got up and scrambled after him.

Hermione smirked at the muffled childish exclaims of surprise and she stepped inside. Immediately she walked over to a tap and turned it on, filling a pot with water. Then she rooted around for ramen noodles in her magically expanded pantry. Merlin stepped over and played with the tap a little. "Yay, indoor plumbing." Hermione muttered. She waved her hand again and set the ingredients to chop and cook themselves, turning the stove top on.

"What's this?" Merlin asked. Opening the oven door. Luckily it was turned off as they were just using the top and he didn't get blasted in the face with heat.

"This is what we use for cooking in the future. It's called an oven. It's way more convenient than a fire, since you don't have to maintain the heat all day." She could remember missing ovens on the horcrux camping trip.

Merlin walked around and opened the various doors after it became clear Hermione would not need any help preparing dinner.

Everything was cooking okay so Hermione turned to the jars around the room and started casting blue bell flames for warmth and light.

Merlin came back into the room smiling and said, "This is brilliant. The boys are asleep on the bed. I can sleep on my bedroll and let them have it."

"Oh! I can transfigure some beds for us both. Sorry. I use this tent mainly for myself when I'm out in the field." Hermione explained, pulling bowls out of the cupboards and handed them to Merlin who placed them at the table.

"I'm going to go wake the boys up for a quick meal then send them back to bed." Hermione wandered off. The two boys were snuggled up all cute against each other and she nudged them awake.

They all sat down to dinner, talking about inconsequential things. After words Merlin set the dishes to washing themselves while Hermione transfigured two chairs into beds in the living room.

"Good night Merlin." Hermione Murmured.

"Night Hermione." Merlin replied.

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AN: Next they reach HOGWARTS omg. Also the Merlin and Hermione aren't going to fall into a relationship right away. Hermione will become a girl again in this fic as well. I don't know if it will happen before or after she goes back to the future yet though. We'll see how it goes.

Peace out


	5. Chapter 5

NotAnotherTimeTurnerFic Challenge

Pairing: HG/MA, Hermione (genderswap)/Merlin (BBC kind of)

Summary: Hermione sends herself back in time to the founders era. Unfortunately her body gets lost in the process. She needs the help of the strongest wizards of the past to help fix the future. But it's hard to convince people to help you when you are one of the most feared dark creatures out there. Dementor!Hermione Boy!Hermione HG/MA

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, that goes to JK Rowling. Nor do I lay claim to Merlin. That's BBC's and (Wiki) Geoffrey of Monmouth. Thanks Schermionie for the challenge idea.

AN. Gryffindor is very wand happy in this fic.

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It took three days for the boys to become completely addicted to ramen.

"Boys, we've eaten ramen noodles every meal for the last three days." Hermione said exasperated. She glanced at the pack of noodles the boys were holding up with a green tinge creeping up her skin. Merlin walked into the room with a pot of boiling water and pouted. Hermione glared.

"But Hermione-" William began. Hermione sent a sharp look at him.

"No."

"What are we going to eat then?" Bael asked, distraught.

"I saw some wild potatoes back over that way." Merlin put in, thinking of uses for the water he had already boiled. "I could take the younger boys and we could catch some rabbits. We could make a stew."

"That's a wonderful idea. If you take William I'll take Bael." She swooped down and scooped up a squealing Bael.

Hermione set Bael down on a stump in a glade with a small charmed dancing teddy and started pulling potatoes. It was quite a gray day out so she made sure to cast a water proof charm on the boy in case it started pouring down rain.

The potatoes were quite a bit smaller than she thought despite it being late fall, so she had to spend a longer time than she had predicted digging up all the plants.

She just packed them away in a sack and was about to pick up Bael when she heard a shout of "EXPECTO PRATRONUM!" and a white serpent slammed into her back and sent her flying into a tree.

Wait, what?

She poked at a tree branch and started to float away. She thought that it was a little strange that someone's patronus had caused gravity to stop working on her, and then she remembered. Blast! I'm a dementor! She looked down just as the huge glowing serpent levelled with her branch. She held stock still in the hopes it would just go away. It hissed at her and slapped its tail into her chest. Hermione screamed like the little girl she was and landed with an explosion of dirt in the potato patch.

"OKAY BAEL IT'S TIME TO GO!" She screamed hysterically, and tried to smile reassuringly as she picked up a giggling Bael and started sprinting through the woods.

She ran for a long time and was starting to run out of breath. She chanced a looked over her shoulder and saw the serpent and a green robed man sprinting after her. She turned back around but not before noticing that she was no longer running on the ground. She was still running, but she was running through air. Her heart skipped a beat, her steps faltered and she started to sink. She shrugged off her logic for the moment and picked up running through thin air. She looked ahead and saw that she was running over great open grassy lawns, which lead up to a suspiciously familiar castle. But it was what was in front of the castle that interested her most.

"MERLIN! Take Bael!" She cried out dropping Bael into his surprised arms as she ran over top of him. She continued running through the air, dodging the snapping snake patronus, and screaming like a banshee all the way.

"Salazar Slytherin you put away your patronus this instant!" A female voice shouted from below. And then the snake dissipated into the air and Hermione slowly sank down to lay curled up on the lawn breathing great gasps of air. She felt someone touch her shoulder.

"Are you alright Hermione?" Merlin asked worriedly. Hermione couldn't talk yet so she just stuck a shaky thumbs up into the air. She opened her eyes and saw that there was a crowd surrounding her, many of which were children who were being shooed back to the castle by a blue robed woman. Hermione stood up with Merlin's help and tried to melt into his shadow as the crazy green robed man glared at her. He had dark red hair and a thick Scottish accent when he spoke.

"Oy, Merlin, out of my way. That's a dementor, it'll suck out your soul." He said, and pointed his wand at Hermione who ducked her head behind Merlin and clung to his travel robes. Unfortunately with all the things happening Hermione forget her body was no longer that of a small slim woman and was now that of a hulking muscular man so she ended up strangling Merlin a little. This caused the green robed Scottish man to take a menacing step forward.

"Ro! Sal! What is happening out here?" A loud, boisterous man shouted as he exited the gates. "The young ones have told me that Salazar is attacking a fearsome flying demon!"

Merlin finally managed to extricate his cloak from Hermione's choke hold and spoke up finally. "No, no you guys. Salazar this is a friend. She traveled back in time and lost her body the ritual created a new one for her. But they used a piece of dementor in the ritual. She's not a dementor though; she just has some of the characteristics of one."

"Yes, Merlin was discussing this with me before you arrived." The blue robed woman stated in an old English accent. "Oh put your wands away." She reached forward and put a hand on both men's wand arms. The red robed man who Hermione guessed was Gryffindor had pulled his out and was searching the sky for any flying demons that might have been terrorizing his friends.

"Ah Salazar!" Godric Gryffindor slapped a hand on the red heads shoulder, which sent him stumbling a few feet forward, "It seems we do not need the use of your dark arts today. It was all a misunderstanding."

"Dark arts?" Hermione sputtered.

"Well yes. The dark arts consist of spells that require emotion or sacrifice to cast." Godric stated.

"Yes." Salazar agreed. He was significantly calmer now. "Like the patronus charm. One must be an apprentice to cast a shield version of the spell and a master of the dark arts to be able to produce a corporeal animal."

Apparently Harry had been teaching masteries in the dark arts in fifth year then. And Voldemort couldn't even conjure a patronus. Hermione decided to never tell her friend that he would make a better dark lord than Voldemort who apparently couldn't even be counted as having a mastery in the dark arts.

It was then that skies decided to open up and started pouring down rain.

"Well, I think we should head inside and dry off." Rowena stated, though she had already cast a rain repelling charm over person. Hermione cast some on Merlin and William and they raced with Godric into the castle.

"O hello there!" A cheerful young lady with bright blond wavy hair exclaimed. She waved her wand and chairs popped up and knocked everyone's feet out from under them, sliding them up to a table. Giant bowls of steaming stew were plopped down in front of them and the group started eating. This seemed like a normal occurrence so Hermione just shrugged. Then she remembered she was still holding a sack full of potatoes.

"Merlin, I still have this bag full of potatoes."

"Give them to Helga. She'll probably enjoy them." Merlin stated.

"Um, Helga?" Hermione stated hesitantly in her deep gravelling voice.

"Yes dear?"

"I have a bag full of potatoes that we were going to cook for dinner but since we already have food I was wondering if you would want them?"

"O Yes of course thank you dear-HOLY CRAP BALLS!" Helga exclaimed. Everyone jumped.

"Helga dear what is it? Are you all right?" Rowena asked worriedly, slowly rising out of her chair.

"O Ro I'm fine dear, just a little surprise." She turned to Hermione who was wearing a faintly disturbed expression on her face as she worried that the slim blond would explode again. "These aren't potatoes silly Billy, these are baby mandrake roots."

Salazar gaped at Hermione across the table. "You pulled out my mandrake seedlings?!" He said. Hermione sank down in her chair.

"I'm sorry! It's been years since I've seen any plant life at all; I forgot what they looked like!" Hermione explained, face pale. Merlin patted her on the shoulder, his face turning red from holding onto his laughter.

"Oh!" Merlin suddenly exclaimed. "That reminds me why she's here-" Gryffindor squinted between Merlin and Hermione with a puzzled expression, mouthing 'she'. "This is Hermione Granger, and she's from a thousand years into the future where apparently the apocalypse takes place." Then he adopted a serious expression as the rest of the table turned grim faced toward Hermione.

"Well it started with this dark lord…"

Three hours later.

"And now I'm sitting in the past trying to figure out how to fix the future." Hermione finished and slumped into her chair, clutching her third cup of hot honey milk. (Pumpkins don't exist in Europe yet and chocolate hadn't yet made it to England in this timeline, so honey milk).

"That's horrible." Rowena stated, her mouth a thin line. Godric and Salazar were both grim faced and Helga had a determined look about her.

"We had a couple ideas but most of them have to be implemented right now." Hermione stated.

"What are they?" Merlin asked.

"Well, the easiest one we could figure out was to never separate the wizarding world from the non-magical world. Having magic would still be an interesting occurrence, but it wouldn't be the world wide gong show fest that it was when it was revealed in the future. I noticed even now, even after Merlin spoke about legalizing magic in the Kingdom with his friend King Arthur that magicals are still separating themselves from the non-magicals. If this persists then the non magicals with forget that we were anything other than fairy tales and legends and history will repeat itself. Because of the technology in the future, it will be impossible to keep ourselves hidden and separate from non-magical folk. We need to make it so magicals and non magicals are no longer a separate species. But make it so that having magic is viewed simply a skill - a career option for their future."

"Or you could kill all the non magicals-ow!" Rowena smacked Salazar upside the head.

"That would be the end too. In the future more and more families were giving birth to squibs or no children at all because they were born sterile. Non-magicals found out in the future that a practice called in breeding can cause severe health problems. In the future the strongest wizard we had were from mixed magical-non magical families. The magical population just isn't large enough to sustain itself. In a couple of generations everyone will be related, and that's when the mutations start happening."

"Mutations?" Godric asked.

"Children born without hearts, or with extra limbs." Everyone gaped at her, their faces going green.

"O my, that's disturbing." Helga chipped in.

Helga clapped her hands. "Well, on that note, I think we should all go to bed. It's practically the middle of the night." Then she shooed everyone out, who followed her directions with numb limbs and disturbed expressions still plastered on their faces. Hermione and Merlin carried the sleeping figures of William and Bael to the guest chambers, said good night, and went to sleep.

She woke up to a ten foot long, male red plumed Basilisk staring her in the eyes.

HGMAHGMAHGMAHGMAHGMAHGMA

AN: It irritates me sometimes when people write the accents into character speech. Sometimes it's alright. But often times it just hampers my reading. If you said someone speaks with a French accent I can imagine how that sounds in the dialog. Like with the old English dialog in here, I could have written "let us goeth geteth something to eateth. It is too cold out hither and i do not wanteth the children to catcheth a fev'r." but I'll say "let's go get something to eat. It's too cold out here and i don't want the children to catch a fever." Because it's easier to read. Translate it in your head if you want to :D that's what I do. Then everyone can have a Jamaican accent or something just for kicks.

Peace out


End file.
